Operation Mew Three
by Yzarc Drowsnam
Summary: Six years after Ash became Champion, Giovanni has been murdered and the new Rocket Admins seek vengeance on whoever killed him. Lance has devised a devious plan to change the face of Kanto forever, and Ash finally returns to stop something terrible.
1. To Be The Best

**Chapter One: To Be The Best**

Six years ago, I lost. I lost for the first time in five years to some kid named Gary. And then, two days later, I lost again. Ash. This son of a bitch then went on to beat Gary and become the Champion. Now, beating the Elite Four makes anyone a "Champion." They are registered in the Hall of Fame and all that. So, for a long while, Gary and Ash were the only two champions, but Ash was recognized as "The" Champion.

A few years passed, and Ash went off to do his own thing. The Viridian Gym needed a new leader, and Gary, having proven himself more than capable with champion status, quickly gained the job. See, the thing about being a champion is that it gives you fame, yeah, but no fortune. It's not a job. Being in the Elite Four? That shit was real. I got paid a scrotumload.

A few years after Team Rocket faded away, thanks in part to Ash, believe it or not, Agatha and Lorlei retired. So I hired a friend of mine, Koga, who, at the time, was a Gym Leader at Fuchsia City. That was before I knew he was fucking insane. But whatever. He was strong. Then I hired a newcomer, Karen, who proved to be very strong. She ended up taking the second highest rank.

I later heard tale of a Red Gyarados causing some serious shit in the Johto area, a good distance away to the west on the other side of the mountains. It seemed particularly strong, and I had to have it. So I retired from the Pokemon League to find this legendary Gyarados and make it my own. I appointed Karen to take my place, and she hired some faggot named Will to take over the empty slot in the Elite Four.

After I caught the Red Gyarados, and flexed some of my muscle over in Johto, I headed back to Kanto. They wouldn't give me my job back, so I went ahead and beat them and became a champion. I was not "The" Champion, however. I hadn't beaten Ash. But I couldn't find him to actually beat him. No one knew where he was. I tried to have him declared dead or missing, so then I'd only have to beat Gary, but no one could believe Ash to be anything but alive and well. So I simply waited. Then some faggot kid named Karl or Gold or something from Johto challenged us, and actually beat us. And me! That's when I knew something had to be done. Ash and Gary's stories inspired so many kids to go out and train pokemon that being the best became so much harder.

That's when I decided to do something drastic. And where my story begins. My name is Lance, by the way, if you haven't heard of me. And if you haven't, shame on you. I'm a fucking beast and I'll wreck your shit.


	2. Eggs

**Chapter Two: Eggs**

There was a man by the name of Giovanni. This guy was strong, smart, and serious. The three S's, if you will. Not the three S's that you do before a date (shit, shower, shave), but the other three that have to do with your personality. Anyway, Giovanni was the leader of Team Rocket. They had this big plan six years earlier to take control, by force, of some big names in pokemon corporations. Silph Co. almost fell to them, and many people and pokemon alike were killed during the takeover. They were beaten back, though, by Ash's ridiculously powerful team. Rocket faded into obscurity in the public sphere, but remained powerful in their own right.

Giovanni still had large shares in Silph Co. and even in the Pokemon League. Many corporations were owned, in part or whole, by Team Rocket, and they were raking in the money. They ended up buying an island far to the south, and setting their HQ down there.

At Giovanni's cabin, deep in the woods on this same island, lied the leader himself, on his deathbed. Turns out he was poisoned during his latest trip to Kanto. He looked up at his four Rocket Admins: Ahmed, Steven, Daniel and Arthur. "The four of you were faithful servants. I'm glad I was able to work with you. I have but one request."

"Anything, sir," Ahmed said. Ahmed was Giovanni's second in command. He was tall and skinny with dark brown skin and glasses. Despite his aptitude for nerdiness, he dressed in only the finest attire.

"I want you to find my murderer," Giovanni continued. "I want you to make him suffer."

"Yes sir," Daniel nodded. Daniel was just as tall as Ahmed, but much bulkier. The muscle of the group, he worked out constantly and had the strongest pokemon as well. He usually dressed light, in a T shirt and jeans, but given the occasion, he was in a black suit. His hair was short, black and neatly combed forward. He had the eyes of an Asian, mostly because he also had the heritage of one. "His death will be horribly painful."

"I want you to stick something in his ass." There was a moment of silence. "Something that will make him bleed from it."

"That's a little gay, don't you think sir?" Steven asked. Steve was shorter than the other two, and even a little chubby. His skin was pale and his brain was smart. At that moment, he was also dressed in a suit and tie, but he tended to go business casual.

"Yes," Giovanni said simply. "I know it is. I want my murderer to die knowing his ass was no longer a virgin. I want him to die questioning his sexuality. I want him to die like the faggot he is."

"It's just," Ahmed began, but stopped as he couldn't find anything suitable to say.

"Put something like," Giovanni began, "Like an exeggcute up there. Then a Leafstone. Watch those little eggs turn into a huge fucking tree and rip him apart from his sphincter. Agh!"

And with that, Giovanni released his last breath. The group of four, still standing around him, looked at each other with bewilderment. "So, um," Arthur began after a little while. "Do we, um," Arthur was loyal, perhaps to a fault. His priorities may not have always been consistent, but they always outweighed everything else. When Arthur put his mind to something, you bet your ass it either got done or he got dead.

"No," Ahmed just shook his head. "We're not gonna shove eggs up a guy's asshole."

"But Giovanni said-"

"Giovanni's dead," Ahmed interrupted. "We owe it to him to find his murderer and bring him to justice, but we're not gonna shove eggs up a guy's ass. If you wanna shove eggs up a guy's ass, you're welcome to do it to yourself."

"So," Steven began, "I guess I'll talk about the snorlax in the room."

"Nice," Daniel laughed.

"Thanks," Steven replied. "Anyway, who's gonna be the new leader of Team Rocket?"

"I nominate myself," Daniel said, puffing out his chest.

"And as the new leader of Team Rocket, I reject your nomination," said Ahmed. "Now that that's out of the way, let's get this old man buried so we can crank out some serious justice."


	3. Rival?

**Chapter Three: Rival?**

Back in Kanto, around the same time, there was a young man by the name of Tony. Tony was smart, driven and strong. However, he made a decision at the age of seventeen to work at the power plant nearby his hometown of Cerulean City to help out his family. It was unfortunate for him, however, because all that potential essentially went to waste. You do what you gotta do, though, I suppose.

This particular day, an otherwise ordinary Thursday, took a sharp turn when Tony decided to stop off at the lake near the plant to relax before going back to his tiny apartment where he'd be reminded of bills he'd have to pay or that he didn't have any food in the fridge or some other similar bullshit. The walk home was the best part of his day, and he decided to prolong it a little bit. He tossed out his pokeball and summoned Slowpoke, his trusty companion since he was five. Or seven or ten or any arbitrary number less than eighteen. I don't actually know when Tony got the Slowpoke, but I know that, at the time of this story, they were good pals.

Slowpoke got right up to the water and dropped its tail into the lake, while Tony took a seat up against a tree and watched his buddy looking so blissfully stupid trying to fish with his tail. The young man sighed heavily. "I wish I could be as happy as you are by doing absolutely nothing," he said to Slowpoke, even though there was absolutely no way the pokemon could understand him. "How the hell do you stay so happy all the time? I just know if I stay at that power plant for another year I'm gonna become suicidal. I need to do something bigger."

"'Ey, Tony," said Jimbo, Tony's half witted manager, driving by in his worn down car. He looked up and saw this car, and thought to himself that if he worked at the plant for another ten years, he _might_ get the job Jimbo had. This made him sigh again.

"Hey, Jimbo." Tony forced a smile.

"You need a ride back to town?"

"Nah, I'm just gonna chill here for a little bit," Tony said. "Thanks though. I'll see you tomorrow I guess."

"Alright," Jimbo winked. "Hey, is that your Slowpoke?"

"Yeah,"

"I didn't know you had a pokemon," Jimbo said. "My son's a big fan of Victoria, you know her?"

"Yeah, the Gym Leader."

"He just called me all excited, wants me to take him to the gym," Tony's boss said. "Said there's supposed to be a bright new talent challenging her today."

Interesting. Pokemon battles were always fun to watch, and it made Slowpoke really happy to see other pokemon, which there would invariably be at a gym leader battle. "I think I'll take that ride, Jimbo."

"Hop in."

"Alright," Tony stood up. He pulled out his pokeball and pointed it towards Slowpoke. "Time to head back, Slowpoke," he said, calling him back.

As the two drove back to Cerulean, the challenger was meeting Victoria, so I'll just skip over to that and just know that Tony, Jimbo and Jimbo's son arrived at the battle sometime after it started.

"Pleased to meet you," Victoria said to her challenger while holding out her hand. "I'm Victoria, gym leader of Cerulean City."

"Jason," replied the challenger, taking her hand and shaking it. "From Pewter."

"Did you walk through Mt. Moon?"

"Wasn't too bad," Jason held up his head and pulled back his shoulders all proud. "Kinda tiring, but it's a great place to catch pokemon."

"Well, it takes a lot of determination to make it through the cave, but it's gonna be harder to beat me," Victoria said. "I need to tell you that my time is precious and if you can't beat me right now, I can't promise I'll continue to battle you over and over again. You might have to wait a few weeks. Can you handle that?"

"I'm ready." Jason nodded.

"Good," Victoria nodded as well. "Then let the battle begin."

And with that, the battle began. Both Victoria and Jason simultaneously tossed out pokeballs. Vicky's revealed a Wartortle and Jason's was a little Pichu. Elementally speaking, Pichu's electric attack had the advantage over Wartortle's water typing. On the other hand, Wartortle is a significantly stronger pokemon. The battle was sure to be intense.

"Nasty Plot," Jason said to his pichu, who took a moment to prepare for what was sure to be an extra powerful attack.

But while it channeled its powers, it was hit hard by Wartortle's Tackle. Pichu was knocked back, but it wasn't down for good. It jumped up a little dizzy, but it was still in the fight. It then shot off a powerful electric attack while Wartortle shot off a Water Gun at the same time. The two beams made contact with each other for a split second, but the electric current traveled through the water and ended up shocking Wartortle for some serious damage.

Unfortunately for Jason, Pichu is a ridiculous weak pokemon, and the Water Gun still hit it, knocking it out, while Wartortle was still ready for combat, though significantly weakened. Jason sighed and tossed out another pokeball, which revealed a zubat. "Zubat?" Victoria laughed. "It better be strong. Water Gun, Wartortle!"

"Confuse Ray." Jason said. Just as Wartortle was about to shoot out a blast of water, something caught its eye. Zubat was just hovering in front of the Wartortle, and the two kept eye contact for quite some time. After a few moments of motionless combat, Wartortle punched itself in the face. Immediately after that, the zubat flew at the wartortle. "Wing Attack!" It hit the wartortle hard, knocking it out finally.

"That was good," Victoria muttered. "But let's see how you handle this," she sent out a starmie. "Use Thunderbolt!"

"Bite!" Jason yelled. As Starmie began to spark with electric currents, Zubat took the initiative and bit hard into Starmie. See, Victoria was sort of smart by using Thunderbolt, because that would have definitely wiped the floor with Zubat. Unfortunately, she forgot one important thing: She's a fucking retard. Of course Zubat knows Bite if it knows Confuse Ray, and Bite is a dark type, which wrecks Psychic, which Starmie is. I'm not gonna stroke Jason's scrotum or anything, because he's not that good, but he's at least better than Victoria. Sure, she had better pokemon, but Jason proved to be the better trainer.

I think Victoria is proof that the pokemon league is flawed. I mean, it's them who appoint the leaders of the official gyms, and she was clearly incompetent. She had connections though. Probably fucked every board member and their moms. In any case, Cerulean's gym leader wasn't really of concern to me. The important thing is what happened after that battle.

"How did you beat her?" Tony asked, approaching Jason, who was a good two or three years younger than himself. "A Pichu and a Zubat? That's a pitiful team!"

"But they're strong and I know how to use them."

"I feel like you could use some better pokemon," Tony said.

"I know," Jason said. "But this damn Pichu won't evolve. Once it does, I'mma turn it into a Raichu, it's just that getting it to that point is-"

"Well, he has to like you first, right?," Tony said. "Your Pichu clearly doesn't like you very much, so why's it gonna completely change everything about itself for you?"

"Kid, don't talk down to me," Jason said. "Pokemon are tools, I don't need to get them to like me. I just need to-" Jason was cut off by Tony's fist in his face. "What the fuck!"

"You're an asshole," said Tony. "Pokemon are living creatures, not tools. This isn't a game, kid. It's pokemon."


	4. The Original Pokeball

**Chapter Four: The Original Pokeball**

I traveled to Professor Oak's lab around the same time as Jason's battle with Victoria. I needed information about pokemon if I was going to change how we would use them. See, Professor Oak was long viewed as one of the most important names in popularizing the use of pokemon in every day life. Before his research, people feared pokemon. Though the pokeball was invented almost a century before Oak came to be, people often found themselves incapable of controlling their new "pets."

Professor Oak was originally a field zoologist. He studied pokemon in their habitats and eventually modified the pokeball so that it had the power to quell the basic instincts of all these pokemon. His new pokeball actually manipulated the brain of the captured pokemon to completely trust he or she who captured it. With these modifications, even kids like Ash and Gary could gain powerful pokemon and actually be able to use them.

My plan was to backtrack. Pokemon are too powerful a force to be allowed in the hands of reckless kids. Having a powerful pokemon should require an intense amount of effort to gain its trust. Simply throwing a ball at it should not be enough. Before Oak, you had to work to gain a pokemon's trust. The only situations like that that still exist are pokemon that one does not catch or hatch him or herself. If you obtain a pokemon in a trade, or if you are given one, and it is powerful enough, it won't listen to everything you say. That's how it used to be all the time.

I wanted to change that, to make it so that only the truly powerful trainers could use pokemon. Limit the amount of people capable of using them so that only those that are specifically trained to be pokemon trainers could use them. Unfortunately, I needed access to the world's supply of pokeballs and, moreover, I needed information on how they work now and how they used to work. I needed information from Oak.

I rung the doorbell at Oak's lab. The speaker came on at the door, an unfamiliar voice. "Can I help you?"

"This is Lance," I said. "The Dragonmaster, and Pokemon League Champion. Is Professor Oak in?"

There were a few moments of silence before the door opened up. I walked in and at first everything seemed like a normal company building. The front room was very empty, and there was simply a counter and one hallway, which, I imagined, led to the real stuff. The man at the counter, a Hispanic looking man with glasses, stood up as I entered and approached me, making me somewhat uneasy. He held out his hand and I took it, because I'm not a douche.

"It's so excellent to meet you, sir," the man said. "My name is Jonathan."

"Good to meet you, Jonathan," I replied. "Oak's not busy is he?"

"Oh, he's always busy," Jonathan laughed. "But he said he'd make some time for you. Head on down that hallway, and he's straight ahead."

I nodded and did as the man said. As I finally got to the room where Oak was, I opened the door. It was filled with books and machines, shelves filled with pokeballs. Oak was sitting down at his desk and across from him was a young girl. Both looked at me when I walked in.

"Lance, my friend," Oak said, standing up. "How is the Pokemon League?"

"I wouldn't know," I shrugged, walking to the professor and taking his hand. "I'm a champion, but I'm not actually a member of the league anymore."

"Ah, yes, yes of course," he replied. "Ah, how foolish of me. This is Iris, a young lady from Saffron City. She wants to do the Pokemon League challenge. You may have some competition, Lance."

"Best of luck," I said to Iris, faking sincerity. "It's not easy, though. I happen to know the Elite Four personally, and they're all pretty tough. Then there's the Gym Leaders."

"I know what I'm getting into," Iris said. "I'm not expecting to win, but I want to try."

"Fair enough," I said. "So why start here?"

"Well, Lance," Oak interjected. "Saffron City is a tough place to get started with pokemon. All the wild ones near the city tend to be very strong. She contacted me, and I got one of my aids to give her a ride to Pallet Town. So now I'm going to give her a pokemon to get her started."

"Interesting," I nodded. "So what are you gonna give her?"

"Well, it seems we have a few options," Oak said. "She seems a poison type trainer. Gastly would be good, or Ekans. I think Ekans is perfect. Gastly's a tough pokemon to start out with."

"Whatever you think, Professor," Iris grinned.

"Then it's settled!" Oak cried. "You will start out with an Ekans! Congratulations, Iris, your very own pokemon adventure is about to unfold."

"Thank you, sir," Iris stood up excitedly. "And, Champion Lance, it was really great to meet you."

"Good luck, Iris," I smiled. Happily, she left the room, and I went ahead and sat down where she was sitting to see Oak smiling.

"I love giving kids pokemon," Oak said. "The pokemon love it, and the kids get to go on the best kind of adventure a kid can go on."

"Professor," I leaned forward. "I need to talk to you about your pokeball."

"Hm?" Oak asked, an eyebrow raised. "You mean the Master Ball? I've only made a few of them, Lance. Do you need one?"

"No," I replied, leaning back and crossing my arms. "I'm talking about your original pokeball."

"Ah," Oak said. "The kind I made my fortune with."

"Yes,"

"Well, what can I do for you?"

"Mechanically speaking," I began. "What's the difference between that, and the original pokeball?"

"Mine required a lot more effort," Oak laughed. "I implemented a neurological device, that actually digs into the pokemon's brain upon capture. It's very painful, but afterwards, the pokemon doesn't remember the pain, and it actually makes them happier. Unless. Are you asking specifically about how I did that?"

"No, of course not," I shook my head, smiling. "I'm no scientist, that would go completely over my head. But I'm wondering. Is it something different within the simple pokeball, or is it programming?"

"Haha," Oak laughed. "I'm good, Lance, yes. But it would be incredibly expensive to actually build a device capable of digging into a pokemon's brain within each pokeball. It's programming. That's what made it so easy for me to update the original pokeball. All I had to do was update the central computer at Indigo Plateau. Then, from there, I could immediately update the pokeballs of anyone who sent me the update fee."

"You're a genius," I said.

"Well, it all goes to science," Oak replied, smiling.

"Another thing," I began. "Do you have any of the old ones on hand?"

"Sorry to say," Oak replied. "But I don't. You might try the lab on Cinnabar."

"I suppose I'll check it out. But about this central computer. It's just that," I continued. "I was leader of the Elite Four, highest ranking member of the Pokemon League. I never even knew about it."

"It's no secret, Lance," Oak said. "If you asked about it, they'd have told you. Of course, you wouldn't have had access to it."

"Why not?"

"Because you weren't the highest ranking member," Oak said. "The Pokemon League is a business. A huge business. You weren't the CEO. You were just the highest ranking...Advertiser I guess."

Oak was being truthful, yes, but it was still somewhat of a harsh truth. In my eyes, the Elite Four were the highest ranking positions in the Pokemon League, but we weren't owners or anything like that. We were just leaders in the public eye. Thing is, though, we actually did have a lot of power as spokespeople for the League. If we said something, the board usually went ahead with it, because they didn't want to cause discontent between corporate and the Elite Four.

"So who has access to it?" I asked.

"Members of the board, high ranking shareholders," Oak said. "And myself."

Board members were notoriously difficult to find. They contacted each other through ever changing means, and had a continuously changing code. Their emails would always change, their locations, their phone numbers. Even their identities.

"Why all these questions, Lance?"

"Curiosity, I suppose," I said. "I have a lot of free time these days, and I find myself thinking about how the world works."

"I can't take you to the computer," Oak shook his head. "I've been somewhat paranoid about it for a while now, actually, ever since Giovanni bought a huge share of the League."

"What?" I asked. "Giovanni's a shareholder?"

"Giovanni was CEO."

"Was?" I asked. "What is he now?"

"He's dead, Lance," Oak said.

This was a surprise to me. I sat for a few moments. "Who got his share of the League?"

"His son," Oak said. "A man by the name of Tucker."

"Thank you, Professor." I said, standing up. "I hope to see you soon."

"You too, Lance," Oak said. "Whatever you do. Just don't let it come back to me, alright?"

I nodded and left. I had some more research to do. I had to find this Tucker and I still needed to find the outdated pokeball. I wondered whether I should go to Cinnabar first, or find Tucker.


	5. Brotel Broker

**Chapter Five: Brotel Broker**

Ahmed, Arthur, Daniel and Steven decided to make their first destination Tucker's place in Saffron City. Tucker, being first to the heir of Giovanni's fortune, was their number one suspect. And, seeing as how they were the leaders of Team Rocket, a global crime syndicate, being even a little bit suspicious was enough to warrant a brutal death. But they were talking about Giovanni's son, and decided, out of respect for their fallen commander, to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"WHY'D YOU DO IT FAGGOT!" Daniel raged as Tucker opened the door of his apartment. Daniel leaped at Tucker, but Tucker was swift enough to dodge the tackle and counter with a push that sent Daniel to the floor.

"I assume you're here about my late father," Tucker said, calmly. He was a clean cut kid in his mid twenties. He usually dressed fashionably, often in a button down long sleeved shirt with the sleeves rolled up, jeans and running shoes. "You're welcome to come in, but I think you'll find yourselves sadly mistaken if you think I'm the murderer."

"Well, it certainly is convenient, don't you think?" Ahmed asked as he led the other two inside the very nice looking apartment. "Giovanni dies and you become the wealthiest man alive."

"I follow the logic pretty well," Tucker nodded, closing the door as they all entered. "Take a seat, please. Can I get you bros anything to drink?"

"I'll just have a brewski" Arthur said.

"In Brotel Broker, we call them broskis," Tucker said.

"Fair enough," Arthur said as Tucker tossed him a BROs Equis. "Tight."

"So, Tucker," Steven said, being the only man in the room still standing. "Why don't you convince us that you're not your father's murderer."

"Well, for one," Tucker said. "You will refer to me as Broker."

"Okay." Steven sighed. "Broker. Convince me."

"I wish you would have invited me to the funeral," Tucker said. "Because when I got the phone call, as soon as I did, I had an emotional breakdown. My father has always taught me that the most important thing in the world is family. He's never been secretive about what he does. He's killed, stolen from and betrayed friend and foe alike. But he's never kept a single secret or done anything to hurt his family. He's taught me to have the same moral code. I'd never even consider killing my own father. Honestly, I'm insulted, and I think he would be too, for you to assume he raised me like that."

Steven and Ahmed looked at each other for a few moments. Steven nodded, and then Ahmed did as well. "Your story is touching, kid," Ahmed said. "We didn't mean to accuse you, but you see,"

"I understand," Tucker said. "You lost someone as well. If I may, I think I can be of some help. See, when my father was in Kanto, he told me he was visiting a scientist. I didn't get the name, but he said he had a lab hidden deep within Mt. Moon. I'm not sure why, but I'd check that out."

The group of four nodded to each other and thanked Tucker. "Hopefully we'll meet again," Ahmed said. "You're a good guy, Tucker,"  
"Broker."

"Right. Broker."


	6. Best Boss Ever

**Chapter Six: Best Boss Ever**

Back in Cerulean City, a few days after Jason's battle with Victoria, Tony was back to work, feeling all shitty about his life again. Something about that battle, though, sparked his interest. When it came to pokemon, it didn't matter how rich or poor you were, what kind of job you had or anything. It only mattered how powerful your pokemon were. Like most kids in the world of Kanto, he used to dream about being a pokemon champion, but when he grew up, he let those dreams go. It was just unrealistic.

"Hey, Tony," Jimbo, his supervisor, walked over to him. "There's somethin' wrong with the power levels we're gettin' from the basement. I think an Electrode mighta exploded or somethin', but I'm kinda tied up right now. Wanna check it out?"

"Yeah, I'll go," Tony said.

"You ever been to the basement, kid?" Jimbo asked.

"A few times," Tony said.

"So you know to be prepared for wild pokemon down there,"

"Yeah, it's just a little tough, since my Slowpoke can't really take electric attacks," Tony said.

"Well, why don't you just catch an electric pokemon while you're down there?"

"It's good in theory," Tony laughed. "But how'm I supposed to catch it if I can't weaken it?"

"This might work," Jimbo handed Tony an Ultra Ball, a pokeball twice as powerful as a pokeball, with a much greater success rate. "You won't be able to catch anything really strong, but somethin' like an Elekid or a Pikachu shouldn't even need weakening to catch."

"You're giving this to me?" Tony asked. "An Ultra Ball? These things are expensive as hell!"

"Yeah, well," Jimbo began. "Aw, hell, you know I ain't good with emotions and crap. Just take the ball, catch somethin', and go become a champion."

"What? How do you-"

"I saw it in your eye, kid," Jimbo said. "And, hey, if it doesn't work out for ya, you can always come back."

Tony sighed. He never really respected Jimbo. He followed his orders, and spoke politely to him, but he never really respected the man. Jimbo was a thirty something year old electrical engineer getting paid maybe twenty dollars an hour, while supporting a family. Jimbo was everything Tony wanted to not become. But after this little show, he became one of the coolest guys in the world. "Thanks, Jimbo,"

"Go get 'em, son,"

Tony smiled and began walking toward the basement, but stopped and turned around. "Is there really a problem with the power levels?"

"Eh, there usually is, but don't worry about it. Just catch ya somethin' and get the hell outta here."

As Tony walked down the stairs into the basement, he saw quite a few machines and more than a few pokemon roaming around. It was an electric type pokemon's dream with all the outlets and chords all over the place. "Alright, Slowpoke," he said, summoning his only pokemon. "Let's find us something we can handle and get the hell out of here. Maybe a Magnemite would be-"

ZAP! Tony looked to his left to see a Pikachu and a Voltorb locked in combat. It looked like they were competing for a Thunderstone, which is known to power up electric type pokemon and even evolve Pikachu. "Let's just watch from afar, Slowpoke," Tony said. "I'll catch the winner."

Then Voltorb asploded, knocking the Pikachu back against a wall. The little electric mouse slid down the wall and laid down on the ground for a few moments. Slowpoke and Tony looked at each other a little confused. "Well that's gay, now I don't know which is stronger, they both lost. I guess I'll just go with Pikachu."

He tossed the ultra ball and the Pikachu went inside. It struggled a little bit, but it was ultimately too weak to escape. Tony walked over and picked up the ball and smiled. "This should be pretty tight," He caught his second pokemon ever and was ready to begin the pokemon league challenge. He was still too weak to challenge Victoria, so he thought he'd head to Pewter, where the weakest gym leader, Vincent, was accepting battles. He'd start there, then travel back to Cerulean. Going through Mt. Moon twice would be a bitch, but he'd have to go to Pewter eventually anyway.


	7. Vincent

**Chapter Seven: Vincent**

Remember Iris? That girl I "met" at Professor Oak's lab? Well, while Tony traveled through Mt. Moon, Iris was arriving at Pewter City wither her Ekans and Beedrill (which evolved from a Kakuna that she caught in Viridian Forest).

"Hi," she said to a man with glasses, standing in the front of the Pewter Gym. "Are you Vincent?"

"Go on inside," the man said, shaking his head. "Vincent loves challenges. I'm obligated to tell you that his preferred type is Dark, so you'll want some fighting or bug pokemon at your side."

"Okay, thanks," Iris said, heading inside.

"HEY!" she heard a voice as soon as she entered and a little kid, about 12 or 13, ran up to her. "I'm Vincent, you're pretty, what's your name? Do you want to battle? I can probly beat you 'cause you're a girl, but girls have beat me before but just not that much."

"You're a Gym Leader?" she asked. "Seriously?"

And yes. Seriously. Apparently, Vincent's father is Steven from Hoenn, one of the wealthiest men in the world, and a large shareholder of the National Pokemon League. But this kid was 13 years old and, frankly, didn't belong at a gym. I mean, his pokemon were fair levels for the Pewter Gym Leader, who is supposed to be weak, to give starting trainers a chance, but he lacked any kind of maturity.

"Ya and I'm good too, you wanna battle?" Vincent asked.

"Yeah, let's get this over with," Iris said, tossing out her Beedrill.

"Oooh, a Beedrill, well, let's see if it can handle UMBREON!"

Out came Umbreon, Vincent's only pokemon. "UMBREON USE TACKLE!" The Umbreon jumped towards the Beedrill, who simply hovered a little higher to avoid the attack.

"Counter with Twinneedle, Beedrill," Iris said, calmly, to which Beedrill heeded instantly. It stabbed Umbreon in the back once, and then twice. As it pulled out its large horn spike needle thingies, you know what I'm talking about, you've all seen Beedrill, Umbreon fell to the floor. Having a weakness to bug with Viridian Forest nearby, crawling with Bug pokemon, is quite stupid. Oh well.

"Well done, challenger, you have earned the Boulder Badge!"

"Boulder Badge?" Iris asked. "Isn't it supposed to relate to your chosen pokemon type?"

"No, Pewter City always hands out the Boulder Badge, but we can use whatever type of pokemon we want, long as we have a theme."

"Fair enough," Iris said. "I'm gonna take the badge, walk out of here, and, if I'm lucky, never see you again."

"OKAY!" Vincent said. "Hope to see you again someday! Will you be my girlfriend?"

Iris sighed and walked out of the gym. Next stop: Mt. Moon, and then Cerulean City.


	8. Rocket Grunt Would Like to Battle!

**Chapter Eight: Rocket Grunt Would Like to Battle!**

Mt. Moon is a large and confusing cave. It took Tony the rest of the day to get to it and through it. As he neared the exit, almost to Pewter City, he noticed something up ahead. There was a man setting up a barbed wire fence.

"Excuse me," Tony said, running up to the man, and then he noticed something peculiar. When the man turned to Tony, he wore all black with a white "R" on the front of his shirt. "Team Rocket? You guys are still around?"

"Yeah, we're not criminals no more, though," the Rocket member smirked. "We work for the Pokemon League."

"Oh," Tony said. "Well, I just need to get to Pewter City, is there some reason this road's blocked?"

"Yeah, we got direct orders from our leaders that no one is to enter or exit Mt. Moon until further notice,"

"So, it's not just this road, it's all of 'em? I can't leave?"

"Right."

"That's fucking gay," Tony said. "I gotta get to Pewter City."

"Well, it can wait, kid, we got orders to-"

"Fuck your orders," Tony said. "I have some pretty strong pokemon, I don't have to simply abide by what you say."

"Bring it on, kid," the Rocket Grunt laughed.

Both of them threw out a single pokeball. Tony's revealed his Slowpoke, his bestest buddy ever, and the Rocket Grunt tossed out a Raticate. "You got this Slowpoke," Tony shouted. "Use Confusion."

The Raticate was knocked back mysteriously, but not really that mysteriously if you know the mechanics of pokemon, like, at all. Confusion is a Psychic attack, so really it makes perfect sense for Raticate to randomly fall back. In any case, the Grunt shouted, "Raticate, use Hyper Fang!"

The Raticate jumped right back up and charged towards Slowpoke, its huge sharp fangs ready to sink into the fluffy, pink body of Slowpoke. It would be completely incapable of dodging the attack, and it was going to hurt unless something was done. "Slowpoke, use Disable!"

Slowpoke's mouth opened real wide, mostly just 'cause it's a dumbass, but then there was a strange flash of light and the Ratticate, who was charging, closed its mouth instantly. It still ran, though, and couldn't stop due to its momentum. "Now's your chance, Slowpoke, head butt that son of a bitch." Slowpoke's mouth closed and it lowered its head so that the Raticate simply ran into it and then fell over, fainted.

"It's not over yet, kid," the Grunt said. "Can you handle this?" he tossed out another pokeball to reveal a Cloyster. "Go ahead and try your Headbut on this bad boy. See what happens."

"I'd say that was a clever move," Tony said. "But I can see it's your only remaining pokemon. Which means if Slowpoke was my only pokemon, you'd have probably lucked out. Unfortunately," Tony called back Slowpoke and tossed out his second and final pokeball, his Pikachu.

"Aww, sheeit," the Grunt said as Pikachu let loose with a Thundershock which completely bypassed Cloyster's epic defense. Cloyster fell to the ground, fainted. I tried to make that sound epic, but really, it's hard when a pokemon can only make another pokemon "faint."

"I'mma just go on through," Tony said, bumping against the guy's shoulder as he did so. "I'm not Team Rocket's enemy, so there's really no need for you to get yourself in trouble by telling your superiors."

By the time he hiked to Pewter City, it was dark out, probably near 9:00pm. So, needless to say, 13 year old Vincent wasn't at the gym, and it was closed for the night. Tony shrugged when he saw it and decided that a night of rest would be good anyway. He didn't have a bunch of money but he had a few hundred bucks, which would last him a few more nights. Plus, beating a gym leader has some pretty good prize money, which he was looking forward to. Anyway, he decided to grab some dinner and find a motel to stay for the night. He stopped by a local burger place, Brock's Brews and Burgers to get himself a burger and a soda. Unfortunately, he wasn't quite old enough to order a brew.

"So, is Brock _the_ Brock? Like, the former gym leader?" he asked the cashier.

"That'd be the one," the lady at the counter smiled pseudo-sincerely. She'd probably be kinda cute if she lost some weight. You know, she had nice eyes and surprisingly nice skin for someone who worked at a greasy burger joint. "Total comes to 8.45."

Tony pulled out his wallet and handed over his debit card. "So he still lives in Pewter?"

"Oh, I don't know where he lives," the girl shook her head. "But I can't see why anyone with as much money as Brock's got would stay in Pewter."

"I dunno, it seems like a cool little town," Tony smiled. "I'm just visiting, but it seems nice enough."

"It's plenty nice," the girl laughed. "But we ain't the typa city rich folk would live if they got a choice. Brock grew up here, so I imagine he didn't mind so much, but now't he's all rich and famous, he prolly bailed and got himself an island in the Sevii region or somethin'."

Tony smiled. The girl was quite talkative, and it was kind of hard to tell if she was trying to get him to flirt. Wasn't gonna happent hough. "Anyway," she continued. "Here's your cup, your number'll be 11."

Tony smiled and held up his cup like a toast. "My lucky number." she laughed. It was kinda cute, but Tony just chuckled and took a seat at a table near a cute Asian girl, who was pretty focused on a pretty thick book. I should mention that this cute Asian girl was the very same Iris who had beaten Vincent earlier that day. While he waited for his number to be called, he'd periodically look over at her to see if she'd look up at him, maybe get some eye flirting in. But nope.

Right around the time 11 was called, Iris closed her book and left. Tony was up at the counter getting his food, and so he didn't get a chance to say anything to her. Maybe he'd see her the next day...Spoiler alert: He did.

So he finished eating, cleaned his stuff up, went to the motel and headed up to his room. Almost immediately, he passed out.

The next day...

"UMBREON, USE TACKLE!"

"Watergun, Slowpoke."

"HAH! YOU THINK THAT CAN HURT MY UMBREON? USE BITE, UMBREON!"

"The fuck? You used Tackle against my Slowpoke when it knew Bite?"

"YA I TRICKED YOU!"

"Okay, use Disable, Slowpoke,"

"OH NO!"

"Now, Headbutt it."

"DANG IT YOU BEAT ME, I HAVE TO GIVE OUT ANOTHER BADGE."

"Okay, you can stop talking in all caps now, kid,"

"Oh right, sorry," Vincent said, calling back his fainted Umbreon. "I just get really excited when I get to pokemon battle. Here ya go, Tony. One Boulder Badge."

"Boulder Badge?" Tony asked. "But you used a-"

"It's Pewter's official badge," came a female voice from behind. Tony turned around and saw a young Asian girl standing there, the very same who wouldn't give him even a glance the night before. "Doesn't matter what kind of pokemon the gym leader uses, apparently."

"I see," Tony said. "Who are you?"

"That's my girlfriend," Vincent said, immediately followed by hysterical laughter from Tony.

"Thanks for the badge, kid," Tony said, tearing up in his laughter as he walked out of the gym to introduce himself to the young lady, around his own age, 19 or 20 it looked like. "Name's Tony,"

"Iris," Iris said. "I beat him with my Beedrill, and he thinks we're dating,"

"Ah," Tony said. "So, he's the Submissive, then?"

"Um, I guess so," Iris trailed off. "Was that a joke?"

"Nevermind. So, are you doing the Pokemon League Challenge or something?"

"Well, sort of," Iris said. "I just got my first badge, but now Team Rocket's closed down Mt. Moon. I can't get to Cerulean to get another badge there until they reopen the road."

"They're pushovers," Tony said. "I beat the guard pretty easily at the exit I came from,"

"They've bulked up security then, 'cause there's more than one guard at each entrance now. Like, there were ten at some. Something really big is happening there, I think,"

"They didn't want me to leave the cave," Tony said. "Maybe they're trying to find something or someone inside. So, like, should we just wait here then?"

"Well, I called Professor Oak yesterday to see what was going on, he said he'd take care of it."

"What does that m-"

"Hey kids!" The two looked to their left to see a Fearow drop Jonathan, Oak's assistant, who was familiar to Iris, but new to Tony. "Heard you were havin' some trouble getting past Mt. Moon."

"Rocket's blocked the way," Tony said.

"Oh, hi, I don't believe we've met," Jonathan said. "Name's Jonathan, assistant to Professor Oak,"

"Tony," Tony said. "Future League Champ,"

Jonathan laughed. "Well, I wish you all the best, certainly. In any case, I can get us around Mt. Moon. There's a River that'll take us straight to Cerulean by the end of the day. And I have a Lapras who knows Surf, and I have the Soul Badge."

"The Soul Badge is..." Iris began. "The one that lets you...Surf?"

"No," Jonathan replied quickly. "It's the one that lets you walk on the rainbow. So, shall we head to Cerulean?"

"Let's do it." Tony said, smiling.


	9. The Majority Shareholder

**Chapter Nine: The Majority Shareholder**

After doing a fair amount of research, I finally found the elusive Tucker Giovanni, who apparently preferred to be called Broker. I wasn't in any sort of position to ask questions about why or anything like that, but I needed to get on his good side, or this mission would have had a much higher body count than I'd initially intended. I like to be smooth, and killing isn't my style. But if this faggot was gonna be a bitch, I was ready to start rackin' up the kills.

I knocked on the door to his apartment in Saffron and he answered with a bedsheet wrapped around his waist, hair all messed up. This was one day after Team Rocket invaded his house.

"Holy shit," he said, "You're Lance. The Dragon Master."

"My reputation precedes me."

"I'd love to invite you in, but,"

"Thanks," I said stepping inside.

"Bro, you can't just come inside," Tucker said. "I'm kind of in the middle of something,"

"Oh, I won't be long," I smiled. "See, I was just wondering about this central computer that's supposedly at Indigo Plateau. You know anything about that?"

"What?" Tucker asked. "No, what the hell are you talking about?"

"You really d-," I stopped for a second and looked down his hallway to see an incredibly hot blonde girl standing there with another sheet wrapped around her body.

"Broker, who is it?" she asked, and Tucker sighed.

"Bitch go back to the room, I'll be there in a sec, I got company, god damn."

"AAAAAHHH!" she squealed as she ran into the living room where Tucker and I were sitting. "You're Lance! Lance! Oh my God I LOVE you!"

"Looks like we have that in common," I said. "I love me too."

"Haha, you're soooo funny!" she laughed. "Can I get an autograph? Please?"

"Is this your girlfriend, Broker?" I asked.

"No, just a booty call for the past couple of months," Tucker said.

"Shut up, Broker! So Lance can I get an autograph PLEASEEE?"

"Uh yeah okay," I said. "You have any paper?"

"I'll go get some!" she ran back to Tucker's room. After that, I looked over at Tucker, who seemed genuinely embarrassed.

"So," he said, "Why are you here? What is this super computer?"

"Central computer," I said. "Apparently, it's connected to every official pokeball in the world."

"I didn't know that," Tucker said. "So what do you need me for?"

"You're the majority shareholder of the Pokemon League," I said. "You have access to it. I don't."

"Wait, you don't have access to something pokemon related?" Tucker laughed. "But you're like, the active Champion! You're the fucking Dragon Master."

"Being a champion doesn't get me shit except fame," I shook my head. "I need you, Brody."

"So I can get in there just by being the majority shareholder?" he asked. "That's fucking stupid. I don't know anything about pokemon."

"The Pokemon League is pretty fucking stupid," I said. "And I want to change it."

"Why?" Tucker asked.

"I wanna change the programming of pokeballs," I said. "So that it doesn't make pokemon obey you. I want to keep weak trainers from becoming strong."

"No, I mean," Tucker corrected me, "Why should I help you?"

"Because this will make it so that pokemon are only ever going to be in the hands of the powerful. Tucker. Whether or not you've realized this yet, you're a very powerful man. I can show you how to gain the respect of pokemon, so that you can be one of the few able to control and use them."

"I, um," Tucker began, "I think you make a very convincing argument."

"OKAY!" came the girl's voice, as she ran out of Tucker's room, now dressed in what appeared to be last night's dancing dress. Though she was technically more dressed than when she had a sheet wrapped around her, there was actually more visible skin. "I got some paper! Can you sign it please?"

"Sure," I said. "Who do I make it out to?"

"Sarah!" she said. "Just Sarah is fine,"

I went ahead and threw the dog a bone. "And there ya go," I winked. "So, if you'll excuse us, we have some serious business to attend to. Go get dressed, Broker."

"Oh yeah," she said, attaching an earring. "I heard you guys talking. You're going on a pokemon adventure."

"No," I said. "We're going to change the world."

"Right, whatever," she said. "Can I go?"

"No,"

"Wait," Tucker interrupted. "How long will this trip take?"

"Well, we need to head to Cinnabar Island first and figure a few things out, then we're off to Indigo Plateau. I expect it might be a week or two."

"Well, then, let's let her come," Tucker said. "I might need a poon tang fix along the way."

"YESSS! I'M GOING ON A POKEMON JOURNEY WITH LANCE!"


	10. Mt Moon

**Chapter Ten: Mt. Moon**

Ahmed, Steven, Arthur and Daniel flew west to Mt. Moon after their talk with Tucker. They called all the Rocket Grunts in the nearby area completely shut off access to and from the cave. When they arrived, they were immediately allowed entrance and ended up searching the cave for hours. The odd aggressive pokemon was no problem, as they all had very reliable and strong pokemon of their own.

Finally, they looked ahead and saw an exit that was not guarded by their grunts. They walked to it and found themselves on a small bridge seemingly naturally created that led to a small building. They were very far up the mountain, and a fall from here would mean certain injury, and possible death, so they made sure to cross slowly.

When they entered the building, they realized that this was the lab they were looking for. Clearly a scientist lived here, doing all types of research. I say lived, of course, because the group of four immediately noticed a small bloody trail seeping out from under the desk in the corner. As they approached, they saw the mangled corpse of a man, supposedly the scientist of Mt. Moon.

"Well, shit," Arthur said. "That's a dead end,"

"No," Ahmed replied. "It's just another mystery that we need to solve. Obviously this man's murder is related to Giovanni's."

"Here's his notebook," Steven said, picking up a book off the floor. They read through the notebook and after about twenty minutes, finished the whole thing. They realized that Phil, the now dead scientist, was doing research on the pokemon Mew and Mewtwo, the latter of which was created during an experiment hosted at Cinnabar Lab years earlier. Phil was one of the few researchers not killed by Mewtwo in its vengeful rage.

Giovanni contacted Phil and offered him sufficient funding to create a third version of Mew. Mew Three would be a ridiculous and boring name, but that was the name Phil wrote in his notebook. They wondered what the difference would be. Mewtwo was already incredibly powerful, easily capable of epic levels of destruction. Perhaps this Mew Three was meant to be able to combat pokemon like Arceus and Groudon with powers to actually change the face of the world.

"So Giovanni wanted Mew Three," Daniel said. "I don't get it. He was already the most powerful man in the world."

"But," Steven went on. "That didn't stop him from getting killed."

"What?" Arthur asked. "It's not like having a really powerful pokemon could make you immortal. Could it?"

"Ding ding ding," came an unfamiliar voice, yet a strong one nonetheless. They turned around to the building's entrance and saw a young man, probably in his early twenties, wearing a red and white cap with jet black hair. "You guys are good. You figured out the mystery of the soon-to-be Mew Three."

"Who the hell are you?" Ahmed asked, grabbing a pokeball from his belt.

"I'm the one man in the world who, no matter what you have in that pokebelt of yours, won't be afraid, because I know that every single one of my pokemon is stronger."

"Ash?" Steven asked. "You're Ash."

"Why are you here?" Ahmed asked.

"Mew Three won't make its trainer immortal," Ash said. "Because Mew Three cannot be trained. It'll break out of a Master Ball as if it were already a trainer's pokemon."

"How is that possible?" Arthur asked.

"How do you think it would have been created?" Ash asked. "Out of thin air? They were going to create it out of scraps of metal and dirt? Do you know how they made Mewtwo? They bred a couple of very powerful Alakazams and in the egg, they injected the modified DNA from Mew. They changed an Abra into a Mewtwo. The new Mew has the same concept as Mewtwo. Giovanni and Phil were going to change something else into it."

"But what?" Ahmed asked.

"Not what," Ash shook his head. "Who."

"Holy shit," Daniel yelled. "Holy shit. Giovanni was gonna transform into Mew Three!"

"That doesn't matter right now," Ahmed said. "Ash, do you know who killed Giovanni?"

"Giovanni's dead," Ash raised an eyebrow. "He's no longer my concern. What I am worried about is the fact that Phil's research is gone."

"His notebook's right here," said Steven, holding up the notebook.

"That notebook doesn't have any information. It's his beginning thoughts, his idea book. He spent years researching Mew and Mewtwo, and all that research is gone. Someone wants to become the new Mew, and anyone with that kind of power can destroy the world. Arceus, Giratina...All these pokemon would fall, dead, if it even wanted them dead, just by blinking."

"So what do you want us to do?" Ahmed asked. "Why are you here?"

"Because I know Giovanni has been manipulating Team Rocket," Ash said. "I know that he didn't intend on sharing a hint of his power with the people who got him there. You guys are powerful. There have been dozens of organized crime groups in Kanto, and hundreds in the world, but Team Rocket is the most powerful, even still, and the longest lasting. Yet I know you guys aren't evil. You four are in charge, and you have the power to change the direction of Team Rocket. I can't stop Mew Three on my own, and I can't go to the Pokemon League, because I suspect a lot of members there. Team Rocket is the only group I can go to because I know, for a fact, that your leader would not allow you the information of the new Mew. Will you help me?"

"Ash," Feez shook his head slowly. "I'm honored that you'd come to us. But we have something we need to take care of. We promised Giovanni before he died that we'd figure out who murdered him."

"Fair enough," Ash said. "But don't you think that Giovanni's murder and this new pokemon are related in some way? We're talking about a completely different world, all the power in one set of hands. I don't personally care who killed him. In all honesty, I'd like to shake the hands of the man who did."

"What?" Daniel raged. "You son of a bitch. You take that back!"

"Or what?" Ash smirked.

Daniel's face got all red and he pulled out a pokeball. "This happens!"

"Daniel, stop," Steven put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "You can't,"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" he yelled throwing it out. The pokeball hit the ground and bounced back to Daniel, revealing an Electabuzz.

"That's it?" Ash sighed. "You want me to battle you? Because I insulted one of my biggest enemies? Did you expect different?"

"Shut the fuck up," Daniel yelled, "And fight me."

Ash tossed out a pokeball of his own, revealing a HOLOGRAPHIC CHARIZARD HOLY SHIT! Just kidding it was a regular Charizard, but it was undoubtedly really powerful. I mean, it's Ash we're talking about.

"Electabuzz, take him down!" Electabuzz charged forward, electricity sparking up around its fist, and punched towards Charizard, who took the hit without any reaction at all. It just looked at the Electabuzz, tiny bits of flame coming out of its nostrils whenever it exhaled.

"Go ahead," Ash said. "Tell him to try it one more time and see what happens."

"Electabuzz!" Daniel yelled. "Come back." He pulled it back to its pokeball while tossing out another one, revealing Aerodactyl, an incredibly fast and very strong pokemon. Probably not nearly up to par with the Charizard, but Charizard does have a glaring weakness to Rock. Aerodactyl, being a Rock type pokemon, can use very powerful rock attacks. "Use Stone Edge."  
Ash's eyebrow raised as Aerodactyl began flying around the lab. "Flamethrower, Charizard! Take it down! Hurry!" Charizard began shooting balls of fire at the ancient pokemon, but to no avail. It was just too fast. Finally, after it built up some momentum, it crashed into the ground right next to the Charizard, utterly destroying the stone floor and tossing it up at the fire dragon, practically burying it in the rubble. A few seconds later, after some of the dust died down, the sound of Ash clapping slowly was heard.

"Well done," he said. "You beat my Charizard. You win. Can we move on now?"

"No," Daniel stomped his foot. "You have five more pokemon and I'm going to beat them all."

"You're not. Because I don't have time to play your little game. Real life shit is going down and all you want to do is be all pissy. Which one of you is the leader?" Ahmed stood forward. "I figured as much. Will you join me?"

"Yes." Ahmed said. "I agree with you that his death is related to your struggle. And in the very least, we have a responsibility to stop this from getting into the wrong hands."

"Good." Ash nodded. "Then let's go."

"I'm not going," Daniel said. "This son of a bitch is Team Rocket's enemy. He doesn't want what we do."

"He does right now," Arthur said. "I'm with you, Ahmed."

"I'm with Daniel," Steven said. "Either way, if we split up, we have a better chance of figuring something out."

"That's true," Arthur nodded.

"The two of us will travel with you, Ash," Ahmed said. "Daniel. Steven. I trust you guys. Make me proud to be a bro."

"Yes sir," Daniel and Steven said, simultaneously. With that, Ash, Ahmed and Arthur headed out after Ash called back Charizard. Daniel and Steven looked at each other with a sense of urgency. Daniel didn't know what to do, but Steven had a few ideas, himself. "I think I know where we are," he said. "I think I know who Phil really was."


	11. Squirtle

**Chapter Eleven: Squirtle**

Tony, Iris and Jonathan floated down the river on Jonathan's Lapras heading from Pewter to Cerulean, while bypassing Mt. Moon, due to the sudden shut down thanks to the reemerging Team Rocket. During this time, Ahmed, Arthur and Ash were making their way out of the cave towards the Cerulean exit. Tony knew his pokemon were probably strong enough to take on Victoria at Cerulean Gym, specifically his Pikachu who had the elemental advantage, but that didn't really mean much considering the remaining six gym leaders were sure to be stronger. Tony needed to train. He figured having Iris with him would help them train together.

"Look," Jonathan said quietly, pointing to a group of little shells floating down the river in their direction, but a little faster, passing Lapras up. "Squirtles."

"Nice," Tony said. "I'm gonna catch one,"

"A fine choice," Jonathan said. "Squirtles are excellent beginning pokemon. Best of luck to ya."

"Good luck, Tony," Iris grinned.

"Thanks," Tony said, tossing out his first pokeball, his Slowpoke, into the water. Slowpoke swam over to the squirtles and smacked one of them on its shell with its tail. It jumped up, out of the water and into the air in the most adorable rage you've ever seen. The rest of the squirtles continued to float along, completely disregarding Slowpoke, but this one stayed to fight. It shot out a Water Gun at Slowpoke, who took the hit and shrugged it off, while swimming closer to the Squirtle and hitting it with its head. The squirtle was able to hide in its shell and take barely any damage from the hit. Slowpoke continued to hit it but to no avail. "Damn, fool, use Confusion or some shit, it'll bypass that defense."

Slowpoke moaned a weird noise and concentrated real hard to hit Squirtle with its Psychic powers! The squirtle began floating, face up, along the river, all fainted and whatnot. Tony tossed a pokeball and it sank to the bottom after sucking up the squirtle inside. "Yo, Slowpoke, think you could go grab that for me?" It sighed, moaned, grunted or something, I don't know, but then swam underwater, and came back up with the pokeball on its nose. It climbed up on Lapras, who didn't seem to mind the extra weight at all.

"Good work, Slowpoke," Tony said, petting his bud. "Sweet, I got a squirtle."

"Would you like to give a nickname to Squirtle?" Jonathan asked.

"No." Tony said. "I'll just call it Squirtle."

"Congrats, Tony," Iris said. "We should battle once you get it healed. I think the rest of your pokemon are too strong for me, but I think that Squirtle would be a fair fight for one of mine. I'll catch up eventually, though, don't you worry."

Tony chuckled, "I'm sure you will."

"This is where we get off, guys," Jonathan said. "You go down this path here, cross that bridge, and you'll be in Cerulean."

"Thanks, Jon," Iris grinned and hugged Professor Oak's assistant.

"Preciate it, bro," said Tony, shaking his hand and the two hopped off the Lapras. Slowpoke followed, but was taking too long, so Tony just recalled it back to the pokeball. Jonathan pulled out another pokeball and tossed it onto his Lapras. Just as a Fearow popped out, Lapras returned to its ball, and Jonathan and Fearow flew off, likely back to Pallet Town to help out Professor Oak some more.

They walked through the grassy area, when Iris stopped suddenly. "What's up?" Tony asked.

"Look," she said, pointing in front of her. Tony shuffled some of the grass over (it was very long) and saw a little Abra, sleeping or meditating or something. "I want to catch it," she continued quietly. "But I need you to be really quiet so it doesn't wake up and teleport away." With that, she tossed out her Ekans, a little purple snake. "Use Wrap," she whispered to it.

It quietly slithered over to the Abra and, quickly, wrapped itself around the little guy. Abra began to struggle, but couldn't teleport out. "Now use Glare!" Ekans moved its neck around so its head was in front of Abra's. Their eyes seemed to meet, and Abra stopped struggling. It just sat, completely motionless. It didn't need physical movement to teleport, though, so she made sure Ekans had a strong hold while she got out a pokeball and tossed it.

Abra went inside. The ball wiggled twice and then stopped. It was captured. "Wow, good job," Tony said. "My pokemon may be stronger, but you have some good techniques up your sleeves."

"Well, I did study up on pokemon before I started, you know." Iris laughed. "Not sure if it'll be enough to take on the Cerulean Gym Leader. What's his name?"

"Her name is Victoria," Tony nodded. "And she is pretty tough. I'd recommend catching a pokemon from the power plant about a mile east of town. Just ask the guy at the front desk, his name's Steve, if you can go to the basement to find some pokemon. They're all electric types, and should be pretty useful against Victoria's water types."

"I'll do that," Iris said. "Thanks, Tony,"

"Sure thing. While you do that, I'm gonna go ahead and start my battle with Victoria."

Tony walked inside the gym after healing up at the pokemon center. It was just a giant pool and, on the opposite side of the door, was Victoria. There was no ceiling to the gym so the sunshine was shining through just like an outdoor pool. But it was inside. There were a few people swimming in the pool, and a few pokemon as well, but Victoria was just chillin' in a _fine _bikini. Tony walked around the pool and approached Victoria, his arm outstretched, hoping she'd accept his battle.

"Do I know you?" she asked, pulling down her shades. Tony paused for a moment. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean for that to sound condescending. I just mean, you look familiar."

"Oh, you've probably seen me around town," Tony said. "I live here."

"Oh, I get it," Victoria said. "You work over at the plant, right?"

"Yeah!" Tony said. "You've seen me there?"

"No," she replied. "But I've seen you coming back from there in your little hard hat. So you're doing pokemon now, huh?"

"I wouldn't saying I'm _doing_ them," Tony said. "That's a little..."

"Shut up," Victoria laughed. "You know what I mean. So, are you here for a battle?"

"Actually, yeah,"

"Okay then," she nodded. "Let's head outside, so all the spectators can watch."

They walked outside, shook hands, and then stood a good fifteen yards away from each other in front of the gym. A crowd emerged pretty quickly, when Victoria tossed out her Starmie. Tony followed suit by throwing out his Pikachu.

"Starmie, Swift!"

"Thundershock, Pikachu!"

Small bolts of lightning and a little beam of stars passed each other quickly. Starmie, shocked, fell to the ground, and Pikachu was hit pretty hard by the stars. Then, Pikachu charged forward as Starmie was struggling to get up. "Use Recover, Starmie," Victoria said. As Starmie charged energy for a Recover, Pikachu slammed into it, knocking it down.

"Here comes Wartortle!" Victoria said, recalling the fainted Starmie and tossing out another pokeball. Tony took this moment to pull back Pikachu and send out Squirtle. "What an odd choice," Victoria said as Wartortle, essentially a bigger, stronger and faster version of Squirtle, popped out. "Oh well. Wartortle, use Bite!"

"Withdraw!" Tony shouted, and Squirtle hid in its little shell. Wartortle's Bite was still pretty hard, and Squirtle took some damage, but it stayed in battle. "That's enough, Squirtle, head back in there, Pikachu!"

Pikachu came back into the battle. "Shit," Victoria shouted. "Wartortle, Withdraw!" Wartortle withdrew in its shell, just as Pikachu let off a small jolt of electricity. It was Thunder Wave, and it paralyzed the Wartortle. "Oh," Victoria sighed as Pikachu began to blast Thundershock after Thundershock as Wartortle took forever to move out of its shell. "Watergun, Wartortle! Watergun!"

It couldn't get off a single Water Gun before it took so many Thundershocks it finally just fell to the ground, exhausted. Victoria called it back and sighed. "I guess you've earned the Cascade Badge. Congratulations. Um, I never actually got your name."

"Tony," he grinned.

"Well, congrats. And here you are." She approached him and held out her hand. As Tony shook it, he felt the badge, and took it as they stopped shaking hands. "You're a good trainer, Tony, and you have some really strong pokemon. I think they'll grow really fast, and I...Well, would you look at that?"

Tony looked to his left, where Victoria's eyes were, and saw his Squirtle concentrating very hard. It suddenly withdrew into its shell and the shell began to grow very quickly. But Squirtle never returned from the shell. Instead, a large, darker, angrier head emerged. It had evolved into Wartortle.


	12. Heroes

**Chapter Twelve: Heroes**

Jason walked through Saffron City after his battle with Victoria. Oh, you don't remember Jason? He's that guy who Tony punched in the face. He was pretty confident after his second victory over a gym leader, and was on his way to his third. Problem is, Vermillion City was the next gym but it was actually further away than Saffron City. It was really interesting to be in

Saffron for the first time. The city was huge and he'd never seen anything like it before.

"Hey!" he heard a voice and turned around to see a dude, probably around 20, and really muscular, running towards him. The guy had three pokeballs attached to his belt. "You're Jason, right?"

"What?" Jason asked. "Um, yeah. Do I know you?"

"No," the man shook his head. "Not yet. My name's Matthew. My dad runs the Fighting Dojo here in town, and he knows Victoria, who just told him that a kid who had a lot of talent named Jason was going to be coming through."

"Oh," Jason nodded. "Cool. Are you asking me to join your Fighting Dojo? 'Cause I'm kind of busy."

"No," Matthew shook his head. "Well, that's what my father wants you to do, yes. But I came to you for a different reason. See, here's the thing. A good friend of mine, Sarah, my sparring partner at the Dojo, has been spying on a guy named Tucker, the current majority shareholder of the Pokemon League. She called me a few hours ago telling me Lance, you know of Lance, right?"

"Of course."

"Right. Okay, so Lance and Tucker are planning something really ridiculous. They're trying to change the world, and keep people from ever being able to control pokemon except themselves or something like that."

"What?" Jason asked. "Is that even possible?"

"If it was possible," Matthew said. "Lance, the best trainer, and Tucker, the owner of the Pokemon League, would be the people to do it."

"Okay, so what are you coming to me for? You want me to stop them? I gotta be honest with you, bud, I only have two badges, and only two pokemon, and neither of them are very strong. I couldn't stand up to Lance for a minute."

"I'm coming to you," Matthew said. "Because I believe that you're going to grow to be very powerful. Not only that, but only someone who started from nothing could hope to understand how important it is for people to be able to use pokemon. I can help you train and become more powerful."

"It's just that," Jason said. "Why aren't you going to someone who could stop Lance now? Like the police or something."

"Tucker owns the Pokemon League," Matthew said. "The police aren't interested in keeping order within that business. None of the Gym Leaders will stand up to Tucker since they basically work for him. I have to get someone who isn't involved with the League. I've talked to my father, but he's not interested in helping, and almost everyone in Saffron City works for Tucker in some way, either through the League or Silph Co."

"Fair enough," Jason said. "I'm on my way to Vermillion right now. You're welcome to tag along and help me out. That's pretty much what you're offering, isn't it?"

"Of course," Matthew said. "The only way for you to get stronger is to continue your League Challenge. I already have a few badges myself, so maybe when you catch up to me we can start helping each other out. We could be partners, at least until you inevitably surpass me."

"I don't know what makes me so special," Jason shrugged. "Just because I beat Victoria in a pokemon battle?"

"Because you beat Victoria with significantly weaker pokemon. Maybe it's the aura you emit, but clearly your pokemon respect you and you clearly have a tactical mind. I don't know why, but some trainers are just better than others."

"Hang on," Jason said, looking past Matthew. A garbage can flew out of a nearby alleyway and a black dog came out. It was an Umbreon, one of Eevee's evolutions. "What's it doing out in the day time?"

"Probably didn't get enough to eat last night," Matthew said.

"Pichu, go!" Jason tossed out his pokeball and his little Pichu emerged, electric energy all around it. "Use Nasty Plot." Pichu charged its energy while the Umbreon didn't yet notice. "Now, use Thundershock!" It blasted a beam of lightning, which knocked the malnourished Umbreon over. It quickly got up, though and started running towards the little Pichu. "Use Thunderwave! Hurry!"

Pichu shot a small jolt of electricity which accurately hit Umbreon, causing it to completely stop moving. It then used Thundershock one more time, weakening Umbreon to the point of almost complete exhaustion. Jason tossed a pokeball and it didn't even wiggle. The Umbreon was captured.

Jason's heart was racing. His little Pichu did all that. "I totally underestimated you, Pichu," he admitted, petting the pumped up little mouse on the head. "You know, I was getting frustrated that you wouldn't evolve, but now I see I don't even need you to. You're really strong and I guess I should be happy you're listening to me." The Pichu looked back at Jason with its big, cute, adorable eyes. Then, to seal the deal. "I'm really proud of you." Then a sincere smile.

Electric currents filled the air and Pichu grew. As electricity surrounded it, it became impossible to watch, but when the light died down, a fully grown Pikachu stood there. "Finally, god damn," Jason said. "Okay. Now off to Vermillion to defeat the Gym Leader there."

"First," Matthew interrupted. "We need to go through Diglet's Cave and back to Viridian Forest. There's a really good training spot there, and you can catch some pretty tough pokemon." Jason nodded, retreated Pikachu into its ball, and the two headed south, towards Vermillion.


	13. Cinnabar Island

**Chapter Thirteen: Cinnabar Island**

Tucker, Sarah and I finally arrived on Cinnabar Island later that night. Just as a little recap, the reason we were there was because we were looking for information on the original pokeball, the one that doesn't automatically make captured pokemon obey you. Doing this so that it's very difficult for new trainers to capture pokemon. You know, in case you forgot my epic plan to create a new world order.

"Okay, Tucker," I began.

"Broker," he said, casually.

"Fine," I replied, rolling my eyes. "Brody. Cinnabar isn't very big since it burned down a few years ago, and they haven't built it back up yet completely. There is a lab and a Gym here, though."

"Oh!" Sarah exclaimed. "This is where Jet, the Fire Gym Leader is, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I said. "But we're not here to sight see. We're here to talk to Zachary, the head scientist at the lab."

"Well, can I at least go fight at the gym?"

"You have pokemon?" I asked.

"Duh," she said. "So? Can I? Will you guys wait for me?"

I was actually kind of interested in how well she could hold her own. "I'm actually kind of interested in how well you can hold your own." I said. "Let's stop by the gym in the morning, then I suppose we'll head over to the lab."


	14. Cerulean Gym Again

**Chapter Fourteen: Cerulean Gym Again**

Back at Cerulean City, Iris finally made it back to Victoria's gym with her new pokemon and everything! I'm not gonna tell you which pokemon she got just yet, but sit tight. It was about two hours after Tony's battle with Vicky.

"This is your friend?" Victoria asked Tony as Iris approached.

"Yep," Tony replied.

"Took her long enough," Victoria said.

"Victoria!" Iris said, holding out her hand. Victoria took it. "I'm sorry for keeping you. Went all the way to the power plant."

"It's fine," Victoria said. "Let's just get the battle on."

Victoria tossed out...You guessed it. Wartortle. I don't know, did you guess it? I assumed you did, because you're not stupid, and you've seen Victoria battle, what? Three times already? Maybe just two. Jason and Tony I guess, so just two. Whatever. It's about to be three. At least, assuming Iris tosses out...Yep. Iris tossed out her new pokemon, which I guess it's time for me to reveal!

It was a Magnemite. "Clever girl," Victoria smiled. "What is with electric pokemon? This is just getting boring losing all the time."

"You wanna just skip to the part where you just hand me the-"

"Wartortle! Water Gun!" Wartortle followed its master and blasted a beam of water straight at the Magnemite, who took the hit and fell to the ground. "Now! Tackle it!"

"Magnemite, get up!" Iris shouted. "Use Thundershock. Come on!"

Wartortle jumped towards the Magnemite just as it was getting up and knocked it to the ground yet again. It took the hit and spun a whole bunch. "Supersonic!" Iris shouted. As it spun, it emitted an odd sound wave. A supersonic one, one might call it. In any case, its aim was to confuse Wartortle. The water pokemon withdrew in its shell and the sound waves simply bounced off, having no effect. The Wartortle jumped out again and shot another stream of water at the magnet pokemon, knocking it out.

"Wow," Iris sighed. "Did that really just happen?"

"Anything else?" Victoria asked.

"You wanna go train some more or something?" Tony asked.

"No." Iris said, her fist clenching a little. "This isn't over yet. Go Ekans!" She tossed out another pokeball after retreating Magnemite back, revealing her Ekans. "Now use Glare!"

"Wartortle!" Victoria called out. "Withdraw! Withdraw! Hurry!" It was too late. Wartortle's eyes were stuck on Ekans, who was slowly slithering over, its glare intimidating the Wartortle into paralysis.

"Bite it," Iris said, smiling. Ekans busted out a huge bite. Afterwards, Wartortle grabbed the snake and threw it to the ground, then jumped on it. Ekans was hurt but not out. It slithered across Wartortle's shell, who was having a difficult time pulling it off again, due to its speed loss from paralysis. The Ekans bit hard over and over again, Wartortle incapable of stopping it.  
Victoria lifted her pokeball to recall Wartortle, but Ekans wrapped itself around it, making it impossible to call it back. It continued biting it until it finally fainted. And by "it" I mean both Wartortle and Ekans, because I realize I said "it" like twice in that sentence, and both times it meant something different, which is stupid, but you kids are smart enough to figure it out. I hope.

"Okay, fuck this," Victoria said. "Take Starmie!"

Starmie came out and Ekans slithered over. "Use Thunderbolt, Starmie!" Ekans was just about to bite it, or something, but a huge bolt of lightning burst forth from Starmie's gem and hit the Ekans pretty hard. Hard enough to knock it out at least.

"Looks like you have two more," Victoria said. "Bring it on, bitch."

Iris pulled back Ekans and tossed out Beedrill. "Oh." Victoria said as Beedrill flew forward with incredible speed, its twin needles shining. It used that one move on Starmie. Um, what was it called again? Oh yeah. Twinneedle. Kablam. Kablam. Or whatever other sound you might think of when you think of two gargantuan needles going in and out of a psychic starfish thing. Starmie fainted, and Beedrill was VICTORIOUS!

"Well done," Victoria said, calling back Starmie. "You've earned the Cascade Badge. I'd recommend heading to Vermillion City and taking on the gym leader there. You're both incredibly capable trainers. I faced a man earlier this week by the name of Jason. He has a good shot at becoming a champion, but the two of you do as well. This is going to be an interesting few months for the Pokemon League."

And indeed it would be. Not only because three soon-to-be very powerful trainers were on the rise, but we mustn't forget my simultaneous search for pokemon domination, and Team Rocket's search for information on Mew Three. I'd love to continue telling the story, but it's nearing eleven o'clock now, and so it's time for my nightly ritual. Goodnight everybody.


End file.
